Apparatus for handling railroad ballast



March 9 1926.

H. G; COOKE APPARATUS FOR HANDLING RAILROAD BALLAST Filed. Sept. 17, 1921 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 9 1926..

UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE.-

nomcn e. oooxii, or NEW .YORK, N. Y.

- -arranurvs ron 'rrannnme RAILROAD BALLAST.

Application filed September 17, 1921. Serial No. 501,395

ment in Apparatus for Handling Railroad Ballast, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description;

My invention relates to improvements in an a paratus for removing, cleaning, and replacing railroad ballast. It has become a practice for good railroads to employ rock ballast, that is a ballast of broken rock or' stone for their roadbeds, as this makes a substantial roadbed and provides necessary drainage. After this ballast has been in use for a time, however, the accumulation of dust, cinders, dirt, and dbris of various kinds along the road, fills the interstices of the ballast, thus interfering with: drainage, and eventually forms sort of an incrustation over the surface. When the ballast gets in this condition its value is very much impaired, and itihas to be taken up, cleaned, the dirt, dust, etc., separated'from it, and the ballast replaced. Generallythis is a tedious and expensive operation, because it is done most usually wit pick and shovel. The object of my invention is to overcome this difliculty, and produce a quick, eflicient, and economical way of lifting, removing, cleaning, and replacing the ballast. I have found that if a strong suction of air is applied to the surface of the ballast, it will remove the dirt and dust quickly, and as the finer parts are removed, opportunity is given for the air to (get beneath the larger particles of stone, an

the whole canbe lifted from its bed. In order that this idea can be carried into practice in a convenient and inexpensive way, I preferably mount the apparatus on a movable car, and by choice a light car which can be lifted or otherwise removed readily from the track so as not to interfere with the ordinary traffic. I provide an exhaust fan, means, as for instance a gas engine, to o erate; it, and a suction pi e which canv be irected upon the roadbe and the .fan will. draw the particles through the pipe. The

pipe delivers over a series of screens which separates the dirt and dust therefrom, and the cleaned ballast is deposited in the hopper and re-directed upon a desired place 1n the roadbed. This idea works out very elliciently in cleaning the track proper, as the ballast can be lifted-from between the ties,

between ties from which the ballast ready been removed. h

In carrying out the idea, the suction pi e should be more or less flexible, and can e extensible so as to easily come in contact with the track surface, and it can be made to turn round so as to fit between the tracks, and thus the entire ballast of the roadbed can be removed. My inventionpermits of many modifications of structure, as will be understood from the description which follows.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the view.

The figure 1s a broken side elevation partly in section showing how my invention can-be carried intoeffect.

The drawing is by way of example, and shows a simple apparatus for carrying out my invention, and from the accompanying description it will be seenthat the details asalcleaned,.and the cleaned ballast rede osited of much of the structure are not important,

but I have shown an apparatus which is efficient and does the work well.

The apparatus is preferably mounted on a base'10 which can be a platform of a light car. 11 running on the track rails 12 which are supported in the usual way u on the ties 13, and between the ties and tween the tracks the ballast is distributed as usual.

The apparatus is provided with an exhaust fan 14 which should be a powerful fan or suction apparatus, andcan be of any approved t e, and this can be driven "in any preferre manner, as for instance by a gas engine 15 mounted on the car. I have not "shownthe connection between the two, as this is unim rtant, and any suitable connection can be 'ade between the engineer motor and the exhauster 14. i v From the exhaustor 14; l ads a. suction pipe 16 which connects with the upper part of the bin 17, this being air tight and for the purpose of collecting dirt, dust, and fine particles, as presently described. The bin "can be'of any suitable construction, and I have ShOWlIlt supported by standards 18 attached to the platform 10. The bin has a suitable tight closing lid 19 at the bottom which can be opened when the contents of the bin are to be removed. Adjacent to the bin and preferably slightly above it, is a box 20, one wall of which is inclined as shown at 20 so that the box will discharge into the bin, and delivering into the box is a, pipe 21 which has an air tight connection with the box, and which preferably extends in a horizontal direction connecting by a T 22 with the vertical pipe 24 at one end of the car. The pipe 22 has a swivel connection as shown at 23 with the pipe 21, so that the pipe 24 can be swung laterally in order that its lower extension or mouth can be brought into contact with the track bed at 7 all points. To facilitate this arrangement the pipe 24 should be flexible or should have an extensible portion, and I have shown 1t with an extensible lower end 25 which slides in the pipe and is connected by arms 26 with a collar 27 slidinon the pipe 24, and con-- nected with a ca 15 28 which runs over a guide 29 on the pipe 21 and attached to a counter-balancing weight 30, so that the lower end 25 of the pipe 24 can be easily raised and lowered and brought into intimate contact with the .full width of .the

track bed.

Obviously the essential thing is to have the suction pipe sufficiently flexible to enable the above arrangement to be carried out, and the invention is not confined to the particular means shown. As illu'strated,however, it will be seen that the suction from the fan 14 will cause the material at the mouth of the pipe 24 to be raised through said pipe, passed through the pipe 21, and delivered into the box 20. The pipe2l, box 20, and adjacent apparatus can be supported in any convenient way, as for instance by the framework 31 and 32.

Within the box 20 and between it and the inclined wall 20" are a series of screens 33, and the material discharged from the pipe 21 drops upon these screens so that'the fine parts will pass through and be collected in the bin 17 while the coarser parts will pass over the screen and through the chute 34 which extends from the box 20, and is shown passing through the walls of the bin 17, although it can be differently arranged if desired. The lower end of the. chute 34 has a lid 35 which closes tight against the end of the chute, and is normally held closed by a weight 36. When sufiicient. ballast has collected in the chute, however, to overcome the weight, thelid swingsopen, and the ballast drops into the hopper 37 which asillustrated, delivers between two of the track ties 13. Thus it will be seen that the 'suction from the fan 14 will lift the ballast from between the ties 13 and discharge it upon the screens 33, separate the finer from the coarser parts, and deliver the cleaned broken rock into the hopper 37, from which it will drop into a s ace from which the materlal had previous y been removed, and consequently as the car 10 progresses, the apparatus lifts the ballast from between one set of ties and automatically deposits the clean ballast between another set.

In order that the apparatus may clean the space between the tracks, the pipe, 21 can be pivoted near where it enters the box 20, as shown at 38. I have shown a conventional pivoting arrangement, but any suitable device can be 'used for the purpose. This arrangement permits the pipes 21 and 24 to swing around laterally so as to cover the said space,and thus the whole ballast of the road bed can be raised,cleaned, and .re-deposited.v

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that the work of removing, clean1ng, and replacing the ballast can be very efiicie-ntly and'quickly carried on, and it w1ll be understood that 1f it isnot desired to lift the whole bed of ballast, enough suction can be applied to remove the to accumulation' of refuse, dirt, etc., leaving the rest of the bed substantially clean, or .if it is necessary, the whole mass can be lifted, 0 cleaned, and replaced as described. I have found that this can be very readily done because the finer particles lift readily b, suction, and after these are removed, t e air gets beneath the particles of rock because of their irregular sha and the are then lifted quite readily. i y 1 It will be understood that this apparatus can be changed in detail, and can be made hea and mounted on a heavy platform car, ut I prefer'to mount it on a carwhich is light enough so that it can-"be. quickly removed from the track ordinary trafiic.

In the drawings I have shown the hopper 37 delivering between the ties 13, but it will of course be understood that this hopper, with the chute 34, can be arran ary "manner at a desired place along the track, and the exhaust pipe made longer, and thus the apparatus would work as 9.1-

to accommodate the gedt'odellver the cleaned ballast at the sides of the track, I

ready described, but over a larger radius track, means for creating -a suction in the without moving it as a whole. pipe, a hopper to receive the material dis- I claim charged from the pipe, and a screen in the 1 An apparatus of the kind described colnpath of the material in the pipe to screen 5 prising a car, a suction pipe supported on out the finer partsthereofi.

the car and constructed to have its mouth v brought adjacent to the roadbed of the HORACE GHCOOKE. 

